The Farther Shore - Christie Golden [68]
Andropov cried out, “You lying son of a bitch!” and sprang.
Baines’s eyes went wide. He tried to run, but Andropov was fueled by raw grief and righteous fury despite his weakened condition. He knocked Baines to the floor and began to throttle him.
[202] He felt hands closing on him, trying to pull him away, and struggled, but to no avail. The holograms held him firmly as Baines got to his feet, clutching his throat.
Again the door opened, and for a second time, Oliver Baines entered. “I thought one of you might try something like that,” he said mildly, “so I sent in my holographic replica. He can endure such attacks much better. Flesh is so fragile.” Baines looked at Andropov, smiling slightly. “Don’t you think?”
Andropov snarled and struggled, but he was held fast.
“It’s all right, Vassily,” came a voice. Andropov turned his head and saw Allyson get up from the floor. She was drenched with blood, and the hole where the spear had been gaped open grotesquely. Andropov tasted bile in his throat and forced his gaze away from the monstrosity.
“You bastard,” he said to Baines. “You ghoul. It’s not enough to kidnap innocent people, torture them, and murder them, is it? You’ve got to create holograms of their dead bodies and make them dance like puppets—”
“Vassily, no!” cried Allyson. As she walked toward him, the blood disappeared from her garments. The horrible hole in her chest closed before his eyes. “You don’t understand. I’m a hologram. I’ve always been a hologram, from the moment you met me.”
The guards holding Andropov let him go. He made no move, only stood rooted in place, staring.
She walked up to him, her green eyes compassionate. “I’m sorry we tricked you,” she said. “You would never have grown as fond of me if you had known I was a hologram. You’d have regarded me as the enemy, or even worse, as just a program, not a person.”
[203] “You are a program,” he said hoarsely. Allyson reached up and stroked his cheek. “Yes, that’s true. But I really am everything you thought I was. I am an artist. And I am a person.” She reached and held his hands in her own. “Aren’t I?”
Vassily continued to stare at her, and then all at once a broken cry escaped him. He reached for her, pulled her into his arms, and held her tightly. Her hair was soft on his cheek. Her arms went around his torso and she clung to him. Tears again filled his eyes, tears of joy and relief.
She was right. She was a person. And he loved her.
By the time they had finally moved away from each other a little, the crowds had thinned out. Only Baines remained. It was either the genuine article or a hologram, but Andropov was so weary from his injuries, the physical exertion, and the emotional wave he had just experienced that he really didn’t care.
“She picked you, you know,” Baines told him. Andropov wiped at his wet eyes. “She looked at your record and saw how you interacted with the other ... um ... guests.”
“He’s right,” Allyson said, squeezing Andropov’s hand and looking up at him with shining eyes. “I’m not a programmed character in a novel. I’m capable of making my own decisions.”
“Just like a so-called real person,” Baines said.
“I don’t know what’s real and not real anymore,” Andropov said. “But I care about her. I don’t want to leave her.”
Baines smiled. No smirk or grin, just a genuine smile of pleasure. “This is what I want to see between photonic beings and organics,” he said softly. “This [204] understanding, this compassion, this mutual respect. It’s possible. I’ve always known it, now you know it, too. Lieutenant Vassily Andropov, I need your help.”
Andropov looked at him searchingly, then down at Allyson’s upturned face.
“What do you want me to do?”
Chapter 18
B’ELANNA IN FACT had come closer to finding her mother on her own than she realized. Her mother’s encampment was only a few hundred yards away, which was why Miral had been able to spot the fire and approach the person